There is today a growing awareness of safety in the design of many consumer products and particularly consumer products which are accessible by children. For example, medicine containers are required to incorporate features which require eye-hand coordination generally beyond the capability of a child who cannot understand the dangerous nature of the medicine. Toy products are required to have attachments which may not be swallowed, do not inflict wounds, or otherwise be susceptible to cause injury even if misused.
Most households, however, include a large number of electrical outlets which deliver dangerous voltage and current at areas near the floor surface which are readily accessible to children. Nonconductive plugs are available to prevent access to the electrical power lines where the outlet is not in use. When a line plug is inserted in the receptacle for use, a generally nonconductive external configuration is created. However, the plug may become loose and expose internal conductive energized prongs and wiring. A child may attempt to remove the plug from the receptacle to expose plug prongs which are energized. It would be desirable to prevent access to the plugs by a child, or to prevent removal of the plug by a child, or to deenergize the plug prior to enabling removal of the plug from the receptacle.
The disadvantages of the prior art are overcome by the present invention, however, and an improved electrical outlet is provided to afford a safe connection between the electrical outlet and an external line plug.